Fundraising Events and Challenges Lead

​​​​​​​​This role is offered on a hybrid contract giving you the opportunity to also work from home three days a week.

Purpose of job:​ 

The Fundraising Event and Challenges Lead is responsible for overseeing the fundraising events portfolio, developing and driving the strategy, and leading the delivery of a wide-ranging events and challenges portfolio to deliver ambitious organisational objectives and fundraising growth targets. This includes high-profile celebrity sporting and non-sporting challenge events alongside special events and mass-engagement events. 

​​Key responsibilities: ​ 

• Leads the strategy setting and annual planning and budget setting for Comic Relief’s events, including building financial models, developing business cases and strategic plans. 

• Lead the operational planning and implementation of fundraising events from ideation, through development and delivery, ensuring an agile approach to changing circumstances and to manage risk and maximise income opportunities. 

• Manage and coach the events co-ordinator to support and deliver operational and fundraising activity across the portfolio to deliver against agreed plans and objectives. 

• As appropriate, lead or work as part of cross-organisational matrix project teams to deliver all event fundraising elements including developing coherent narrative, fundraising marketing activity, supporter journeys and income/performance tracking and management. 

• Lead and manage project teams of internal and external stakeholders and suppliers to ensure all aspects of fundraising events are delivered effectively and successfully to deliver income targets. 

• Procure and manage the day-to-day relationship with external delivery partners to ensure safe and successful development and delivery of events; this could include events logistic delivery partners, integration of external media broadcast outlets or television production companies. 

• Working with the FR Events co-ordinator, supporting all operational elements of events including event plans, logistics, risk assessments, live content requirements, content delivery, health & safety, risk management and crisis management plans.  

• Actively manage the fundraising event budgets, ensuring spend is monitored, reported, and reforecast, with cost saving opportunities leveraged to maximise net income. 

• Operate as a champion of fundraising events within the wider organisation proactively identifying, sourcing and helping to embed new ways of working, tools and approaches that drive and optimise income from fundraising events across an array of target audiences. 

• Foster a culture of high performance and build organisational event fundraising expertise. Work across the organisation to ensure each challenge/event is audience focused and all opportunities to maximise income are explored through a test, learn and iterate approach where data, learning and insight is used to make informed decisions and actioned swiftly. Ensure knowledge is systematised and shared across the organisation for maximum impact. 

• Working as a lead within the Fundraising Directorate, work with colleagues to ensure all activity is appropriately integrated within the wider fundraising plans and portfolio, targeted to agreed audiences appropriately and designed and delivered in a way that maximises engagement and lifetime value. 

People Management 

• Provide balanced, constructive feedback, undertake effective performance management to embed accountability and proactively support the professional development and growth of staff. 

• Proactively undertake business planning, prioritise activities and set clear and realistic objectives for the team and individuals based on capacity, expertise, and aspirations. 

• Maintain regular two-way communication and dialogue with staff, ensuring information is cascaded and escalated as needed. 

​​Person specification​ 

​​Essential criteria​

• Experience in developing strategies, plans and managing and delivering events with a focus of income generation. 

• Experience of delivering high profile events with multiple external partners 

• Demonstratable experience of complex project and stakeholder management in high impact and proven ability to deliver on time and on budget.  

• Evidence of working in high-pressure, high-risk environments with high personal resilience and the ability to effectively manage and mitigate risk, adapt and respond to fast-paced change.  

• Excellent communicator with experience of leading and working effectively in cross-functional project teams and wide-ranging stakeholders to deliver shared goals and objectives. 

• Experience of budget management including setting detailed, annual and campaign planning budgets and strategies, reforecasting, and ongoing tracking against these. 

​​Desirable criteria​

• Experience working across a full spectrum of events including sporting and non- sporting challenge events and special events, including with a focus on targeted audiences from mass audiences to high-net-worth audiences. 

• Experience of working with broadcast media partners. 

• Experience of using a range of digital channels to drive engagement and income to event related activities.   

• Effective relationship builder with the ability to proactively challenge and persuade senior stakeholders and partners. 

Don’t meet every single requirement? Studies have shown that women and people of colour are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single qualification. At Comic Relief we are dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive, and authentic workplace, so if you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyways. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.

Why work at Comic Relief

There are lots of good reasons to join us at Comic Relief. You can read more about our employee benefits, such as our commitment to flexible and hybrid working. We ask staff to come to the office twice a week, normally on agreed team days, so that we can do all those things that are difficult to do online. Our office is based in Whitechapel, London, There are lots of opportunities to develop your skills and experience at Comic Relief, including opportunities to become a Mental Health First Aider or to participate in our Employee Network Groups that focus on making Comic Relief a more inclusive place to work.

Disability Confident employer

As part of the Disability Confident scheme, we take positive action by providing first-round interviews to candidates who have a registered disability, provided they meet the minimum criteria for the role, as demonstrated on their CV.

We ask that candidates that wish to be considered for this scheme email [email removed - click apply for more details] to discuss further. Please do not email CV's/cover letters.